coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success,
or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen. - john le carre

Monday, January 31, 2011

Live-Blog the Fourth! "Downton Abbey"

Here we all are for the last -- *snifsnif* -- installment of the wonder, beauty, and majesty that is Downton Abbey. (Have I been watching too much MST3K the last few days? Why, yes, yes, I have.)

Pre-episode conversation topics this evening include: Sherlock fanfic, M's grad classes, health care policy, and...Sherlock fanfic. :) And glancing up at the Aretha Franklin R&B special and goggling at 1970s clothes. And horror at Twitter commentary on picture of a pregnant Natalie Portman: apparently she is no longer the "thinspiration" for these girls. I'm sure she's heartbroken. O_o Lord love the folks who came back with, "Idiots. She's pregnant." And chatting about Gavin and Stacey and perception of body image.

9.10: [Thomas and O'Brien] A: Again, why? [Lord and Lady] M: She sounds simpering there... A: Way to write the middle daughter off! H: That was what the middle daughter got.

9.11: [Carson and Thomas] M: How can he have any credibility left? H: Maybe he doesn't. [faces being pulled at re-advent of Sir Antony] M: She needs to reintegrate all of these personalities! H: I like her coat. Oh...and he thinks that's a win. A: Oh....that was really sad. M: *groan*

9.12: [Sir Antony and Edith] H: This is very boring.

9.13: [O'Brien, Daisy, Thomas, and Carson] A: And they've got whatshername in to back them up... H: Of course they do. M: *sigh* A: Carson is smarter than this. I hope he hangs them. H: Literally? A: No, not literally. I want to see them hoist with their own petard!

9.14: [Sybil and Lord] A: What a lovely skirt. M: Yes. H: And our short scene is over! A: Yeah, this is a bunch of short scenes! [Mary and Matthew] M: I think this is that scene... *pulls face* A: That was... M: That was...that was a good line. Not so bad. A: It was a good 'lets start again' kind of...

9.16: [Sybil] A: Someone's got something up her sleeve! M: Someone's not going to a charity. [Lady and Maggie Smith] M: This is that scene! A: The voice cracks... [as Maggie Smith rationalizes house geography] H: It's the delivery... M: It's fantastic... A: I could watch that scene over and over for hours. M: She's all about practicalities. A: Well, it's about image, right? Whatever you do is okay so long as society doesn't find out. M: I wonder if Grandma's going to back Mary so much now.

9.18: [Anna and Bates, 'I'm not sure the world is listening.'] A: Good point. [William and Daisy] A: That's...a stunned look. M: I'm surprised people can't read Daisy like a book!

9.19: [chauffeur and Sybil] M: Yeah, but he loses his job, honey... [Sir Antony] M: Edith. [and so it goes.] A: You don't want him, honey... H: It doesn't matter... M: Although, to be honest, I'm a big devil's advocate here: who knows what Edith wants? Maybe she'd be happy with a comfortable life. I mean, not comfortable, but not the grand passion Mary seems to want.

9.21: [Sybil at election] H: 1913...I'm trying to remember. A: Yeah, you know more about this than me... H: I'm trying to remember. There are some really contested, really violent elections. Oh, like this...[as men come out with bottles; as Matthew and Sybil go down] H: That wasn't your brightest move, was it sunshine!

9.23: [Daisy w/housekeeper and Carson] General awed silence. H: That's a moral leap! A: It is. M: Daisy was workin' hard on that. A: It took her awhile! But she got there!

9.24: [as Branson asks after Sybil] H: And Lady Mary's goin', "My sister has beerflavored nipples, what the fuck!" A: I'd be really disappointed if this was what Mary's story turned into: slept with a Turk, turned into failure.

9.25: [Matthew by fireplace] H: And Matthew's like, "am I here, should I go..." A: The mother needed reviving? How so, exactly?

9.27: [Bates and Carson] H: Is Bates going to be all confessional with no need? Yes, yes, he is. A: Is this why he isn't free to marry? H: It shouldn't make any difference... A: Canny housekeeper! Oh god! Jesus, man! M: Get off the fucking cross! A: Indeed! Carson!

9.28: [Mary and Matthew] A: He's looking a little stunned. M: He's like, which personality is this? Their hands are very close together...He said "Don't play with me!" H: Are you sure about that? M: Ooohh... ['pay no attention to the things i say'] A: But pay attention to this? Don't listen to me but fuck me?

9.30: [Bates and Anna] A & M: Ohhhh... H: Damn it. [general cheering at peck] H: *cheering* M: There was touch! there was touch! A: Yes, yes, yes... M: I mean, there was no tongues...

9.31: [Lady and Mary] M: There was some smexin'... ['what did you put in them'] General laughter. ['what we want doesn't matter'] H: Rubbish! A: You've been saying it does for the last year. M: One of my personalities does... H: Oh, rabbits... A: *sigh* general baaing noises. M: Fucking barf, lady.

9.33: [Lord, Lady and Mary] M: That was....awesome. A: *laughter* I love the fact that the daughter is like sitting there and comments on it. Like "Everyone knows you're doing it with mom..." H: "...and that's just tacky!"

9.33: [Mary and William] M: What...what was that? H: She's trying to be sweet to everyone? 'cause she's going to get laid?

9.34: [Lady and Maggie Smith] A: With my awkward cane! ['the strength...mentally or physically..'] H: Oh, Maggie. Yes, you could. A: She's so fixated on this -- the carrying of the corpse. [and then the delightful suggestion of assassination!]

The muffin on the left isn't in Downton. Mrs. Wormwood,
on the right, is. Mary's probably lucky to have escaped.

9.38: [Lady's pregnancy: "i don't understand what we've done differently"] *hysterical laughter* A: It'll be a son -- it'll be a son. M: Either that or it's...cancer. H: Oh, you miserable thing. M: I'm sorry! A: I did think of that. But they would be able to tell...yes? H: Not necessarily. ['the child will be healthy?'] M: Well...

9.54: [admitting doctor] H: Right then. Mr Sympathy and Good Humor. A: The era of tell the patient as little as possible. M: The era of informed consent what? As I like to say, your uterus makes you stupid! You couldn't possibly understand.

10.16: [Edith and Mary] M: They're cutting off their noses to spite their faces! They're still relations! A: They're going to end up with each other.

10.17: [O'Brien and Lady] H: She's going to end up in the lake. M: She's going to sew stones in her clothes, that one. [Maggie Smith and O'Brien] M: Oh, yeah...bottom of a river. H: Oh, yeah. M: Oh, shit. A: Or maybe just a shotgun.

10.19: [Mary and Matthew] H: You walked right into that, sweetheart. ['so i've ruined everything!'] H: Yeah, more or less. A: But she was trying to do what everyone expected of her... M: Shit. No-one's ending up happy in this picture. A: As you say, the two sisters are going to end up side by side.

10.20: [Rosamund and Maggie Smith] H: What do you expect, she's an alien!

10.21: [Mary and Carson] A: Oh... M: Oh -- oh -- oh -- ohhh....

10.21: [Harriet Jones and Maggie Smith] A: So the two women are going to end up conspiring... H: Well, the wanted the same thing from different ends... M: Can I just say in retrospect...Harriet Jones' outfit...for the win!